Netflix to Replace Star Ratings With Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down

[C DM]

Why? Star ratings are better. I prefer to know what the average rating for a film is, not if a majority think it's worth watching or not. If I'm looking to watch a movie that I haven't seen I'd rather pick a 5 star than a 3 star. How does just a thumbs up for down help with that?

Is that how star ratings have been used by Netflix though?

 

[SvP]

Netflix is going completely downhill in my book. I don't want more original content. I want access to the great content that already exists which I haven't seen yet. I don't want personalized suggestions. I want the popular new releases from existing major studios and networks. How dare they have something available on their DVD-by-mail service but not available to stream. Make it happen, netflix, or I'm cutting the cord that was supposed to enable me to cut the cord.

Your downhill is my uphill.
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Why? Star ratings are better. I prefer to know what the average rating for a film is, not if a majority think it's worth watching or not. If I'm looking to watch a movie that I haven't seen I'd rather pick a 5 star than a 3 star. How does just a thumbs up for down help with that?

I think star ratings are useless.. a 3 star rating may mean 1: it's something no-one has a strong opinion about,; 2: that it's someone everyone loves, or 3: that people either love it or hate it. So basically i know nothing.

 

[Nicky G]

good, i dont think anyone fully understood those star rating anyway. It took me years to realize that those star ratings are based on what you watched before / your taste and not the overall rating from the whole user base

Well I learned something new today! I think the new system will be better.

 

[cube]

Let the lazy/clueless users have the new system, not the rest.

 

[Macaholic868]

Your downhill is my uphill.
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I think star ratings are useless.. a 3 star rating may mean 1: it's something no-one has a strong opinion about,; 2: that it's someone everyone loves, or 3: that people either love it or hate it. So basically i know nothing.

Which is exactly my point. If I've got 2 hours to burn on a movie I haven't seen then I'm going with a 5 star I know nothing about or a 4 star that looks interesting based on what I know about it. 3, 2 and 1 stars are out. Thumbs up or thumbs down is worse for every reason you just mentioned. A thumbs up is the equivalent of a 3 star under you scenario. What is a thumbs up? Is it a flick slightly above average, is it a must see, or does it just not suck? With the star system you know once you hit a three star you're taking a chance.

 

[ignatius345]

I think star ratings are useless.. a 3 star rating may mean 1: it's something no-one has a strong opinion about,; 2: that it's someone everyone loves, or 3: that people either love it or hate it. So basically i know nothing.

Netflix's implementation of star ratings was very useless. For one thing, it was just a raw average like you said. And for another, it was never the real average of others' ratings anyway -- it was just what Netflix robots assumed YOU would rate a film. Beyond useless.

But that doesn't mean ratings are inherently useless. Amazon shows you the exact distribution of ratings instead of just the average -- so you can tell the difference between polarizing or middling stuff. Letterboxd does the same thing, in half-star increments so you actually get a 1-10 scale.

It's good to have access to real information instead of just being babied by some Netflix algorithm that spoon-feeds you what it thinks you want.

 

[ProVideo]

Looks like Netflix doesn't like spending millions on exclusive content to see it only get 1 or 2 stars. Lame.

 

[Michael Goff]

This is pretty dumb, and I think Netflix is missing the point of a rating system.
There are plenty of great movies that were well acted, directed, written, and edited that I will only watch once. Movies like The Road, or Leaving Las Vegas are great 5 star movies, but hard to watch more than once, well at least for me.

Compare them to guilty pleasure movies that are not necessarily good, but are easily re-watchable. Some that come to mind is Rush Hour, Bad Boys, Anything with Steven Seagal, Van Damme, or Jason Statham. I am not saying these are good movies, but very re-watchable movies.

Although, Netflix star rating can be miss-leading. I watched a near 5-star rated show Sense8, and it was horrible. It visually looked nice, but the dialog, acting, and storyline was so silly. Compare that to the show Legend, which has a 3-star rating, I feel like that show, while lower budgeted, is a much better quality show.

Is a start rating system really that hard?

Yes and no. Star ratings are more subjective than even the "like/dislike". What you consider a flaw big enough to warrant a 3 star, maybe I don't care as much and rate it 4. Same flaw, but different rating.

 

[Jeremy1026]

good, i dont think anyone fully understood those star rating anyway. It took me years to realize that those star ratings are based on what you watched before / your taste and not the overall rating from the whole user base

Funnily enough, Netflix put The Office at 1.5 stars for me. I'm now on Season 8(?) and still enjoying it. Your algorithm doesn't work too well Netflix.

 

[Howl's Castle]

I don't like this. When I think of star ratings, I think of

⭐ - Hate It
⭐⭐ - Dislike It
⭐⭐⭐ - It's OK
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Liked It
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Love It

 

[Juicy Box]

Yes and no. Star ratings are more subjective than even the "like/dislike". What you consider a flaw big enough to warrant a 3 star, maybe I don't care as much and rate it 4. Same flaw, but different rating.

I agree with you about the star system being very subjective, this has always been the case with scale-rating systems, but a thumb rating system would be much more ambiguous than the star rating.

After reading a lot of the comments on this page, and getting a better understanding of how the star system works, I have determined that either system probably doesn't meant that much to me. I just wished they posted Rotten Tomatoes' rating instead. While I do not always agree with it either, for example Furious7 had a better rating than Unbreakable, Forest Gump, and Star Wars VI, I feel like they are much better gauge than what Netflix currently has.

 

[Michael Goff]

I agree with you about the star system being very subjective, this has always been the case with scale-rating systems, but a thumb rating system would be much more ambiguous than the star rating.

After reading a lot of the comments on this page, and getting a better understanding of how the star system works, I have determined that either system probably doesn't meant that much to me. I just wished they posted Rotten Tomatoes' rating instead. While I do not always agree with it either, for example Furious7 had a better rating than Unbreakable, Forest Gump, and Star Wars VI, I feel like they are much better gauge than what Netflix currently has.

I find the thumbs up and down to be the least ambiguous. Do they like it or do they not like it, that's all it is. There is nothing more to it. That's the most straight forward system out there. It's why Siskel and Elbert have thumbs up and down. It's simple.

 

[Juicy Box]

I find the thumbs up and down to be the least ambiguous. Do they like it or do they not like it, that's all it is. There is nothing more to it. That's the most straight forward system out there. It's why Siskel and Elbert have thumbs up and down. It's simple.

I guess I just see it differently.

When referring to Siskel and Ebert, they are professional reviewers. So, whether you agree or disagree, you at least have a baseline to reference. Example, if I always disagree with Ebert, then I know not to trust his opinion.

But, when you ask the masses, it becomes ambiguous and unclear what a thumb up means.

Compare it to food. I hate egg foo young, I like 7/11 hotdogs, and I love Ruth's Chris steakhouse's rib eye. Sometimes the hotdogs gets me sick though. If food had a thumb up/down rating system, would I thumb up to both? Yes, I could, but it would be ambiguous to meaning in relation to the steak. Of course the egg foo young would get a thumbs down, but the others are unclear in relation to each other.

I am not saying the star system is perfectly clear, as it is very subjective what a 3-star means from person to person. I am saying that it is less ambiguous in relation to each other. Because if I really love something, it would be 5-star (Steak), and if I have what I consider as mediocre feelings about something (hotdog), it would have less than 5 stars. If I hate something, it would be clear with a 1-star rating.

Just my thoughts.

 

[C DM]

I guess I just see it differently.

When referring to Siskel and Ebert, they are professional reviewers. So, whether you agree or disagree, you at least have a baseline to reference. Example, if I always disagree with Ebert, then I know not to trust his opinion.

But, when you ask the masses, it becomes ambiguous and unclear what a thumb up means.

Compare it to food. I hate egg foo young, I like 7/11 hotdogs, and I love Ruth's Chris steakhouse's rib eye. Sometimes the hotdogs gets me sick though. If food had a thumb up/down rating system, would I thumb up to both? Yes, I could, but it would be ambiguous to meaning in relation to the steak. Of course the egg foo young would get a thumbs down, but the others are unclear in relation to each other.

I am not saying the star system is perfectly clear, as it is very subjective what a 3-star means from person to person. I am saying that it is less ambiguous in relation to each other. Because if I really love something, it would be 5-star (Steak), and if I have what I consider as mediocre feelings about something (hotdog), it would have less than 5 stars. If I hate something, it would be clear with a 1-star rating.

Just my thoughts.

But in case of Netflix, aren't the ratings simply used on a personal level for them to show similar or potentially interesting things to the individual? Not really aggregating ratings from other users to show how good or bad something is or anything like that.